AJA Debuts 2K Video Support and HD Cross-Convert with KONA 3 v2 Upgrade; Customers Can Bring in and Play Back 2K Material - an Industry First for Editing and Finishing on the Mac.

LAS VEGAS -- AJA Video, a leading manufacturer of professional video interface and conversion solutions, today announced 2K resolution video support with the v2 upgrade to the recently released KONA 3, the company's top-of-the-line uncompressed HD/SD capture card. In a major development, KONA 3 will now provide customers editing and finishing on an Apple Power Mac G5 with the capability to bring in and play back material at 2K.

Additionally, KONA 3 v2 will address users' needs with support for hardware-based 1080-to-720 or 720-to-1080 cross conversion. This desirable feature further streamlines dailies and deliverables creation at true broadcast picture quality in real time. AJA will highlight these important new features for the future post-production workflow at NAB 2006 at its booth SL4913.

"The KONA 3 2K path offers significant cost and labor savings over a tape-based approach to 2K. With this upgrade for customers on the Mac platform, you can go straight from telecine to disk with 2K media and eliminate the steps of using tape stock and then digitizing those tapes for the nonlinear editor. The added 2K support in KONA 3 v2 will benefit large, full-service facilities as well as boutique facilities entering the 2K 'film as digital' landscape," said John Abt, President, AJA Video.

"The combination of the Power Mac G5 and Apple's Final Cut Studio brings real-time, native HD editing to customers at a breakthrough price," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations. "We're thrilled that AJA has taken advantage of the open resolution and frame-rate independent architecture of Final Cut Studio to provide viable real-time 2K solutions on the desktop."

2K telecine to KONA 3 saves time and steps in the process by directly and simultaneously creating 2K DPX files and 2K QuickTime reference movies. Material can be played out at 2K via HSDL (High Speed Data Link), offering further synergy with other 2K products available and already in use in the market.

Additionally, KONA 3 v2 allows 2K files to be viewed on HD 1080 24P-supported video monitors, lowering the price barrier for recording to tape and viewing 2K material. This 1080 HD playout can also be down-converted to SD in real time, giving the 2K DI pipeline a powerful solution for multi-format video playout of 2K material.

By generating 2K DPX files during the digitize phase, different parts of the process -- delivery of full-resolution media for shots intended for visual effects, for example -- can be done much earlier. Offline editing can be done in Final Cut Pro and because of the flexibility of Final Cut Pro and QuickTime, even a 2K online is possible.

Further new features of KONA 3 v2 are 16-channel embedded audio, and 96khz AES audio. 16-channel embedded digital audio allows for full support of all audio channels on HD tape formats, such as HDCAM SR.

KONA 3 is the ultimate uncompressed capture card for seamless operation with PCI Express (PCIe) Apple G5 Power Macs and Apple Final Cut Pro. Supporting any uncompressed SD or HD format, including Dual Link and 2K, KONA 3 captures and plays back uncompressed 10-bit and 8-bit digital video and 24-bit digital audio, providing unparalleled power and workflow efficiency. KONA 3 also includes a variety of 10-bit broadcast-quality features, such as hardware-based up-, down-, and cross-conversion to and from HD, and adds a live hardware HD/SD keyer for compositing bugs, live clips, and other elements over video.

Pricing and Availability

KONA 3 is available now, priced at US $2990.00. KONA 3's I/O connections are supported with supplied breakout cables. AJA's K3-Box -- a rackmountable IRU enclosure -- is available as an option for US $299.00. v2 software can be downloaded May 22nd from www.aja.com. All existing owners of KONA 3 can download v2 at no cost.

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of high-quality and cost-effective digital video interface, conversion and Desktop solutions supporting the professional broadcast and post-production markets. With headquarters in Grass Valley, California, AJA maintains an extensive sales channel of dealers and system integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website www.aja.com.